The Quick Read: The smartest move is to ask how a lender counts your stock pay, not whether it does. Ask which shares count, which price it uses, how much vesting history it wants, and whether the policy is in writing. Each jumbo lender writes its own rules, so two lenders can read the same vesting schedule two different ways.
Key Takeaways
- Restricted stock units are shares your employer promises to deliver as they vest. Lenders generally count only shares that have vested and been delivered to you.
- A jumbo lender sets its own rules for stock pay. Ask for the written policy before you spend money on the file.
- Your qualifying income can come in lower than your take-home pay in a strong stock year, because lenders average and discount.
- Vested shares can be income, assets, or both. Those are separate tests with separate questions.
- A lender’s answer matters most on four points: price method, history required, reserves treatment, and re-checks before closing.
Why Does Every Jumbo Lender Answer RSU Questions Differently?
Because no single rulebook governs them. A jumbo loan starts one dollar above your county’s conforming limit, so no government-backed buyer sets the standard. Each lender decides how RSUs count, and that is where tech borrowers get surprised.
Jumbo payment estimate
The starting figures are an example price in the jumbo range with ten percent down on a thirty-year fixed. Replace them with yours.
Editable benchmark: 7.40% as of October 15, 2026 · Freddie Mac 30-year average via FRED®. A conventional market reference, not a jumbo loan quote.
Illustrative starting assumptions: a $1,000,000 price in the jumbo range, ten percent down on the top-leverage lane, a thirty-year fixed structure at the current Freddie Mac conforming benchmark, and property taxes and insurance estimated at typical national rates. Every field is editable.
Illustrative estimate only — not a Loan Estimate, approval, quote, or commitment to lend. The rate field carries the weekly Freddie Mac thirty-year conforming benchmark, a market reference and not a jumbo loan quote; jumbo rates are set by the lender and the lane at lock and differ from the conforming benchmark. An adjustable-rate scenario is shown at the benchmark for the whole term; the rate after the initial period is unknown. Reserve months and appraisal counts follow the lane sheet for the amount band; the automated finding may require more. Taxes, insurance and dues are editable estimates; closing costs are not included. On most lanes the conforming limit for the county decides whether a loan is jumbo at all; two lanes start at a stated dollar floor instead. Licensed in sixteen states for consumer mortgages.
Here is the envelope Lendmire works in. Across the wholesale jumbo loan programs it arranges, the headline lane starts at a 660 decision score. Leverage can reach 90%, though several lanes top out near 89.99% combined loan-to-value and the rest stop at 80%. Loans run up to $5,000,000 on the largest lanes. The debt-to-income ceiling is 50% on the fixed lanes, 45% on the adjustable lane, and 43% on the interest-only lanes. Every figure is subject to lender guidelines and a full file review. None of it is a commitment to lend.
Notice what that envelope leaves out. It says nothing about how your RSUs get turned into a monthly income number. That part is lender policy, and it moves your ratio more than almost anything else on a tech borrower’s file.
In the jumbo files Lendmire arranges for tech employees, the stock-pay question usually decides the outcome. Credit and down payment rarely do. A borrower with strong vested history can look thin at one lender and comfortable at the next. The borrower did not change. The policy did.
What Should You Ask a Jumbo Lender About RSUs?
Ask six groups of questions, in this order: whether RSUs count, how they’re valued, how much history is needed, what documents are required, how reserves are treated, and what gets re-checked later. The table below turns that into a call sheet.
| Question | Why it matters | A strong answer sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| Do you count RSUs, and is that in writing? | Policy varies by lender | “Yes, here is our written guideline.” |
| How much vested history do you need? | New grants may not count | A specific period, with exceptions named |
| Which stock price do you use? | Spikes and dips change income | A stated averaging method |
| Are unvested grants ever counted? | Offer-letter grants look large | “Only vested, delivered shares.” |
| Do you need my new employer’s schedule? | Matters after a job change | A clear document list |
| Do vested shares count as reserves? | Separate from income | A named percentage of value |
| Do you verify employment yourself? | Affects what you gather | A described verification step |
A vague answer is information too. “We look at it case by case” can mean flexibility, or it can mean nobody has written the policy down. Ask a follow-up and see which one you get.
A Plain-Language Call Script
1. “I’m paid partly in RSUs from a publicly traded employer. Do you count them as income, and can I see that policy in writing?”
2. “How many months or years of vested history do you need, and what happens if I changed jobs?”
3. “Which price do you use to value the shares? Is it an average, today’s price, or a discounted figure?”
4. “Do you ever count unvested grants, or refresh grants that haven’t started vesting?”
5. “Do you count vested shares as reserves, and at what percentage of their value?”
6. “What would make you re-check my file after approval, such as a job change or a big stock move?”
Ask the same six questions of every lender or broker you talk to. Then compare the answers side by side. The comparison will teach you more than any single answer.
How Does a Lender Turn Stock Pay Into an Income Number?
A lender counts vested, delivered shares, averages their value over time, and adds the result to your base pay and bonus. The averaging step keeps one lucky month from inflating your income. It also keeps one bad month from sinking it.
Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide is the clearest public standard for RSU income. Jumbo lenders aren’t bound by it, but many use it as a starting point. Its mechanics give you a useful map:
1. Only vested shares count. The stock must have vested and been delivered to you without restrictions. Unvested grants are not income.
2. The lender wants proof. That includes evidence the company’s stock is publicly traded, the vesting schedule showing past and future vests, brokerage or bank statements showing prior deliveries, and recent pay records. It also includes two years of W-2s and a verbal verification of employment.
3. Valuation uses an average. For income paid in shares, the guide uses a 200-day moving average price. A recent spike won’t raise your qualifying income, and a recent dip is smoothed.
4. Continuance matters. For time-based awards, the guide wants documentation that they continue at least three years from your application. Recurring awards generally don’t need that check unless the lender has reason to doubt them.
A jumbo lender may use a different average, a discount, or a longer history. That is why the question list exists.
A Worked Example
Say your pay has three parts: base salary, a bonus, and vested shares. A lender counts your base and bonus in full. It averages your vested share value over the history it requires, using its chosen price method.
Now suppose the lender counts only part of that stock income. Your total qualifying income drops. The same monthly debts now take a bigger bite of it, so your ratio rises toward the program’s ceiling, which is 50% on the fixed lanes. A higher ratio can mean a smaller maximum loan or a larger down payment.
Run it the other way and the point is plain. If a lender ignores RSUs entirely, your file is reviewed around base and bonus alone. Some tech borrowers still fit that way. Many don’t. Better to learn this on the first call than after you’ve picked a house.
Why Your Vesting Schedule Can Look Like It’s Falling
Many grants vest in larger chunks early. The scheduled amounts then shrink in later years, so a lender reading only the schedule may see declining income. Refresh grants, the new awards you receive over time, often aren’t on that schedule yet. Ask the lender how it treats declining scheduled vests. Ask whether a short written explanation from you, covering your grant pattern and recent refreshes, helps the underwriter.
Why Can’t the Lender Just Take Your Word on Stock Income?
Because a lender must verify income with reliable third-party records. The CFPB’s ability-to-repay compliance guide says a creditor must make a reasonable, good-faith determination that you can repay. It also says the creditor generally can’t rely on what you say about income and must verify it with records such as W-2s or payroll statements.
Those rules don’t dictate how RSUs count. They set no bright-line debt-to-income cutoff for general qualified mortgages, so each lender’s RSU treatment is a policy choice. The CFPB’s own page on conventional loans says jumbo rules vary by lender and usually call for good credit and a high down payment.
One more piece of context. County limits are set by FHFA and change on a schedule. FHFA’s conforming loan limit announcement explains how the limits work, and the limit for your county decides whether your loan is jumbo at all. Higher-cost counties have higher limits, so a loan that is jumbo in one county may be conforming in another.
Income Test vs. Reserves Test: Do Your Shares Count Twice?
Income and reserves are separate tests. Income asks whether you can carry the monthly payment. Reserves ask whether you have cash and liquid assets left after closing. Vested shares can help with either, but each test has its own rules.
| Factor | Income test | Reserves test |
|---|---|---|
| What counts | Vested, delivered shares | Vested shares you hold |
| Valuation | Averaged price | Value the lender can verify |
| Proof | Vesting records, W-2s | Brokerage statements |
| Key question | “Which price method?” | “What percentage of value?” |
Reserves on the jumbo lanes are measured in months of the full payment, and the requirement rises with the loan amount. Larger loans ask for more months. For the Fannie Mae benchmark, vested stock is acceptable for down payment, closing costs, and reserves when its value can be verified. Non-vested options are not. A jumbo lender’s policy may differ, so ask.
Here’s a reasoning problem worth thinking through. Shares that count as reserves at full value look generous. Shares counted at a discount look stingy. But a lender that discounts openly may be doing you a favor, because it’s showing you the real cushion. The stronger answer isn’t always the bigger percentage.
What Documents Should You Gather Before the First Call?
Gather your paperwork first, because stock-pay files ask for more of it. Late documents can force a lender to rework the file. The usual list:
- Recent pay stubs showing RSU income, plus two years of W-2s
- Your vesting schedule, showing past and future vests
- Award agreements for current grants
- Brokerage or bank statements showing prior share deliveries
- Evidence your employer’s stock is publicly traded
- Statements for any vested shares you plan to use as reserves
- A short note explaining your grant pattern and any refresh grants
That last item is optional but useful. Keep it to a few plain sentences.
Should You Sell Shares or Hold Them?
It depends on what the file needs and what you can afford to lose. Selling gives you cash the lender can verify easily. Holding keeps your position but ties your reserves to a stock price that moves.
| Your situation | Leans toward |
|---|---|
| Need cash for the down payment | Selling some shares |
| Shares already count as income | Holding, if reserves are met |
| Stock is volatile and concentrated | Selling some for stability |
| Lender discounts shares heavily | Selling, so cash counts in full |
Selling shares can trigger a tax bill. Tax treatment can depend on your situation; borrowers should speak with a qualified tax professional before relying on any deduction or credit.
What Happens If the Stock Drops or Your Job Changes?
A drop in price can lower the value of any shares counted as reserves. A job change can reset your vesting history entirely. Both are reasons a lender may look at your file again.
Under the Fannie Mae benchmark, a lender must re-underwrite the loan if new documentation changes your debt-to-income ratio. Ask your lender what triggers a re-check and what it will want to see again. Common triggers include a new employer, a new verbal verification, or updated brokerage statements.
Think about your own margin too. A loan sized at the very top of what a lender will approve leaves no room for a falling share price. Sizing to base pay and bonus alone, with stock as a cushion, is a more comfortable way to hold a jumbo loan. That’s a judgment call, but one worth making before you sign.
The appraisal is a separate track. The appraised value sets the loan-to-value ratio, and income and assets are underwritten apart from it. On the jumbo lanes, amounts above a lane’s threshold call for two appraisals. Ask your lender where that threshold sits and how it affects your file.
Where Does the Standard Treatment Break Down?
Several situations fall outside the common path. Here are the ones tech borrowers hit most.
Recent job change. Fannie Mae’s benchmark looks for vesting history. Freddie Mac’s version requires shares to have vested and been distributed from your current employer. Some performance-based files allow prior-employer history as an offsetting factor. Ask whether your lender does.
Sign-on grants. Under older summaries of the Fannie Mae guide, sign-on bonuses paid as restricted stock aren’t eligible as qualifying income. Confirm against the current guide and your lender’s own rules.
Private company stock. The benchmark requires evidence the stock is publicly traded. A pre-IPO holder may not be able to count RSUs as income at all. Ask early.
Cash-settled RSUs. When RSUs pay out in cash instead of shares, the calculation differs. The method depends on whether you receive shares or cash and how long you’ve received them.
Performance-based awards. These typically need a longer track record than time-based ones. Some lenders accept shorter history with offsetting factors.
Two RSU earners. If both borrowers are paid in stock, the lender repeats each step for each person. Ask whether it treats the two histories separately.
Owning the home you’ll live in. Occupancy affects leverage. The programs Lendmire arranges set different leverage for primary residences, second homes, and other uses, so confirm yours at the start.
What Are the Red Flags in a Lender’s Answers?
Watch for these:
- No written policy on RSUs
- A refusal to say which price method is used
- A promise to “make it work” before reviewing your documents
- No clear difference between income and reserves treatment
- Surprise document requests late in the file
A lender that answers plainly, with specifics, is usually one that has handled stock-pay files before. A lender that deflects may still be fine, but you now know to compare it against another.
Then take your best two or three answers and compare the full terms on each lender’s Loan Estimate.
Key Terms Defined
RSU (restricted stock unit): A promise from your employer to deliver shares of company stock as they vest.
Vested: Shares you have earned and own, no longer tied to a waiting period.
Delivered: Vested shares actually placed in your brokerage account.
200-day moving average: The average stock price over 200 days, used to smooth swings when valuing share income.
Continuance: Proof that your stock pay is likely to keep arriving.
Overlay: An extra rule a lender adds on top of standard guidelines.
Reserves: Cash and liquid assets left after closing, measured in months of your full payment.
Jumbo loan: A mortgage above your county’s conforming limit.
What Should You Do Next?
Gather your documents, write down your six questions, and put them to more than one lender or broker. If you are buying a home and want to see whether a jumbo loan fits your file, Lendmire can help you compare the options and what each one asks of the file. Programs are arranged through wholesale lenders, and every one is subject to lender guidelines and a full file review.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do unvested RSUs count toward a jumbo loan?
Generally no. Under the Fannie Mae benchmark, only vested shares delivered to you without restriction count as income, and jumbo lenders typically follow a similar principle. Some lenders may look at unvested grants for context, but that is a lender choice. Ask whether yours does.
Do I have to sell my shares to buy a home?
Not necessarily. Vested shares can count as income, and under the Fannie Mae benchmark they can also support down payment, closing costs, and reserves if their value is verifiable. Jumbo lenders may treat them differently, so ask how they count them. Selling can have tax effects, so speak with a tax professional.
Does a jumbo lender use today’s stock price?
It depends on the lender. The Fannie Mae benchmark uses a 200-day moving average for share-paid RSUs. Jumbo lenders can pick their own method, which could include an average, a discount, or the current price. That’s why “which price do you use?” belongs on your list.
How much vesting history do I need?
It varies by lender and by award type. Time-based and performance-based awards are often treated differently, and a recent job change can reset the clock. Ask for the required history, and ask whether offsetting factors can shorten it.
Can I qualify if my employer is private?
Possibly, but not by counting RSUs as income under the Fannie Mae standard, which requires evidence of public trading. Some lenders review your file on base salary and bonus alone. Ask whether yours will, and whether any private-company equity counts toward reserves.
For your own numbers, request a scenario review with Lendmire.
About Lendmire
Lendmire is a mortgage brokerage (NMLS# 2371349) licensed for consumer mortgage lending in 16 states, arranging FHA, VA, conventional and jumbo purchase and refinance loans through a wholesale lending network. Eligibility is determined by the lender on each file. Scotsman Guide named Lendmire a Top Mortgage Workplace in both 2025 and 2026.
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References
1. Fannie Mae Selling Guide, B3-3.3-07: Restricted Stock Units and Restricted Stock Employment Income
2. CFPB, Ability-to-Repay and Qualified Mortgage Small Entity Compliance Guide
4. FHFA, Conforming Loan Limit Announcement
5. Fannie Mae Selling Guide, B3-4.3-01: Stocks, Stock Options, Bonds, and Mutual Funds
This article is part of Lendmire’s jumbo loan program — full qualification details, guidelines, and scenarios live on the program page.
Related reading: How to Get a Condo Jumbo Loan as a Tech Employee With RSUs · How Jumbo Loan Condo Rules Work for a Tech Employee With RSU Income · Builder’s Lender vs Outside Jumbo Loan for a High-Earning W-2 Buyer
Brandon Miller
Founder & CEO, Mortgage Loan Originator, Lendmire LLC
- Mortgage Loan Originator · NMLS# 1129696 · Verify on NMLS Consumer Access
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- Lendmire LLC · Firm NMLS# 2371349 · Verify firm licensure
Important disclosures. Lendmire (NMLS# 2371349) is a licensed mortgage brokerage. Lendmire is not a direct lender, depository institution, or financial advisor. All loan inquiries are subject to lender underwriting; this article does not constitute a commitment to lend. Rates, terms, and program guidelines are subject to change without notice and vary by borrower profile, property type, and state. Information in this article is general in nature and is not financial, legal, or tax advice. Equal Housing Opportunity. NMLS Consumer Access: nmlsconsumeraccess.org.